Category Archives: Librería de segunda mano

So we decided to start a new section, it’s called Cool blogs(as you can see on the title we are very creative). Here at Bookstops we’ve been interacting with some other literary blogs lately. There’s quite a few great ones, but Emily Reddon’s THE MATILDA PROJECT really is an amazing one. It is quite a beautiful and fun yet somewhat nostalgic blog. But, hey, we won’t dwell on –so effortlessly– trying to describe its awesomeness. Here’s a fragment of Emily’s explain-y bit:

Starting now, I’ll scour the world and London […] for the little independent bookshops that smell of paper and sell you not just a book, but a little piece of human history. Every week, no matter where in the world my crazy nomadic lifestyle takes me, I’ll share a new indie bookshop.

The goal is to prove to this sad generation of button-clickers that the ease of the internet is no match for the adventure and joy of a good old-fashioned human-run, paper-book-selling bookshop.

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It is located in Tres crucesstreet, near downtown Coyoacán. The street is perpendicular to Miguel Ángel de Quevedo avenue. Las tres cruces is the biggest secondhand bookstore I’ve seen in Mexico City so far. It is inside a big warehouse; all of its walls are stacked with books. It’s a two-story-building with a staircase, about eight meters high, that connects both levels of the bookstore. It is very curious that, when looking at the bookstore from the outside, it seems like your regular single-story house façade; but the moment you walk inside, you realize there’s an enormous building hidden behind the small entrance.

On the ground floor they have a big collection of school books: history, biology, chemistry, and such academic subjects; also biographies, fiction, and pulp editions in several categories. These are all books in Spanish. Here you can also find a comic book section and a movie section, both hidden next to the counter at the entrance. The books in English are upstairs (though you can find a few others in German and French, as well). They are roughly divided in two categories: one is the deluxe and hardback editions with paper sleeves (where you can find some antiquarian and sometimes first editions); the other one is the mass-market paperbacks.

Selection: 6/10. Its selection is kind of okay. Mainly due to the fact that they handle enormous amounts of books –they buy entire libraries–. Therefore, they cannot evaluate their quality. Not all of their books are in the best of conditions; some are worn-out or busted (usually because of the aspect above). Nevertheless, looking carefully, and with a bit of luck, you can find great books hidden among some other not-so-good-books. I, for instance, have found All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque, Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn, and Cockpit by Kosiński.

Prices: 10/10. This is the best about Las tres cruces: their pricesare pretty friendly. The most expensive books in the mass-market paperback section seldom exceed $70 (MXN). I’ve even bought some in $12. In the hardbacks’ section, prices aren’t so high either; they’re usually in between $100 and $150. Although, you can find some antique editions –and in good condition– that cost around $200.

Order and organization: 8/10. Most of their books are alphabetized. But occasionally there’s some out of their places.

Service: 7/10. Their employees are usually willing to help you out. The downside is they themselves don’t always know what’s in the bookstore.

Bookstoreness: 8/10. It’s a good bookstore. But by being such a big one and by having so many books, they disregard their quality as a whole.

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Like this:

Celaya 25, Colonia Hipódromo, Delegación Cuauhtémoc, 06100 DF, México. This is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. It is located on the second floor of the American Legion building, which is quite an unusual one (it seems like it got stuck somewhere in time, and that’s cool). Under the Volcano Books —tribute to Malcolm Lowry’s mind-blowing masterpiece– is a small and welcoming secondhand bookstore. You will be warmly welcomed by its owner, Grant, the moment you walk inside. He doesn’t just run the place; he knows a lot about his books and cares for them, which is something you can tell immediately (you don’t get that in most bookstores). The walls of Under the Volcano Books are covered with wooden bookshelves filled with a very fine selection of books (only in English) in several categories: fiction, non-fiction, biographies, poetry, filmmaking, and so on. You can also find a wide array of incredible old editions of classics by Nabokov, Hemingway, Greene, Woolf, Faulkner and Golding, for example.

Selection: 10/10. This is honestly the best thing about the bookstore. I’ve found books here that I have not been able to find anywhere else in town. They are highly, highly selected and you can usually find them in pretty good conditions as well. You’ll be overwhelmed by the amount of great books on the shelves, and won’t even be able to decide which one to take (it’s happened to me on several occasions). Grant has said that he doesn’t just take in any kinds of books that might be donated. He is very specific about their quality standards, and that’s what makes their selection so amazing.

Prices: 7/10. Most of its prices are between the $100 – $200 (MXN). But you can find some stuff for $80 and some other stuff for more than $200. Their prices may seem a bit high sometimes, but they are fair enough if you consider the aspect above.

Order and organization: 8/10. As I wrote before, the books are organized in several categories (fiction being the largest one). Most of them are arranged in alphabetical order, but some others aren’t. Mainly because Grant gets more books regularly and he’s not able to organize them immediately.

Service: 9/10. It’s great, Grant knows his books and can amiably tell you where to find what you’re looking for. But I prefer to look for them by myself and, if I can’t find them, then ask him.

Bookstoreness: 10/10. Yes. Because all of the above.

Plus: If you want to have a drink or eat something, there a bar-restaurant downstairs with some pretty good burgers.

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